Andean Potato Cultivars (Solanum tuberosum L.) as a Source of Antioxidant and Mineral Micronutrients CHRISTELLE M. ANDRE,* ,²,‡ MARC GHISLAIN, § PIERRE BERTIN, # MOUHSSIN OUFIR, ‡ MARI ÄA DEL ROSARIO HERRERA, § LUCIEN HOFFMANN, ‡ JEAN-FRANC ¸ OIS HAUSMAN, ‡ YVAN LARONDELLE, ² AND DANIE Å LE EVERS ‡ Institut des Sciences de la Vie, Universite ´ catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium; Department ‘Environment and Agro-biotechnologies’, Centre de Recherche Public-Gabriel Lippmann, Rue du Brill 41, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg; Centro Internacional de la Papa, Applied Biotechnology Laboratory, P.O. Box 1558, Lima 12, Peru; and Unite ´ d’Ecologie des Grandes Cultures, De ´partement de Biologie applique ´e et Productions Agricoles, Universite ´ catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium Potato tubers were evaluated as a source of antioxidants and minerals for the human diet. A genetically diverse sample of Solanum tuberosum L. cultivars native to the Andes of South America was obtained from a collection of nearly 1000 genotypes using microsatellite markers. This size-manageable collection of 74 landraces, representing at best the genetic diversity among potato germplasm, was analyzed for iron, zinc, calcium, total phenolic, total carotenoid, and total vitamin C contents. The hydrophilic antioxidant capacity of each genotype was also measured using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. The iron content ranged from 29.87 to 157.96 μgg -1 of dry weight (DW), the zinc content from 12.6 to 28.83 μgg -1 of DW, and the calcium content from 271.09 to 1092.93 μgg -1 of DW. Total phenolic content varied between 1.12 and 12.37 mg of gallic acid equiv g -1 of DW, total carotenoid content between 2.83 and 36.21 μgg -1 of DW, and total vitamin C content between 217.70 and 689.47 μgg -1 of DW. The range of hydrophilic ORAC values was 28.25-250.67 μmol of Trolox equiv g -1 of DW. The hydrophilic antioxidant capacity and the total phenolic content were highly and positively correlated (r ) 0.91). A strong relationship between iron and calcium contents was also found (r ) 0.67). Principal component analysis on the studied nutritional contents of the core collection revealed that most potato genotypes were balanced in terms of antioxidant and mineral contents, but some of them could be distinguished by their high level in distinct micronutrients. Correlations between the micronutrient contents observed in the sample and the genetic distances assessed by microsatellites were weakly significant. However, this study demonstrated the wide variability of health-promoting micronutrient levels within the native potato germplasm as well as the significant contribution that distinct potato tubers may impart to the intake in dietary antioxidants, zinc, and iron. KEYWORDS: Potato; Andean tuber; Solanum tuberosum; antioxidants; ORAC; carotenoids; phenolics; vitamin C; minerals; iron; calcium; zinc; genetic diversity; microsatellite INTRODUCTION Population-based epidemiological studies have stressed the important role of diet and lifestyle in the emergence of many degenerative chronic diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases, in both developed and developing countries. In industrialized countries, chronic diseases constitute the main cause of premature mortality (1). Over the past decade, the prevalence of those pathologic disorders has surprisingly increased in low-income countries as well and become a significant public health concern (1, 2). In addition, infections and inadequate micronutrient intake remain major causes of death and disability in the developing world. Iron, zinc, and vitamin A deficiencies are the most widespread forms of micronutrient malnutrition (3). Potato is currently the fourth most important crop worldwide after maize, wheat, and rice, with a production in 2005 of >323 million tonnes (4). In many developed countries, potato represents a secondary staple crop, with an average per capita consumption of 75 kg year -1 in 1999-2001. In developing countries, its consumption (20 kg year -1 per capita) is less * Address correspondence to this author at the Department ‘Environment and Agro-biotechnologies’, Centre de Recherche Public-Gabriel Lippmann, Rue du Brill 41, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg [telephone (+352) 47 02 61 416; fax (+352) 47 02 64; e-mail andre@lippmann.lu]. ² Institut des Sciences de la Vie, Universite ´ catholique de Louvain. ‡ Centre de Recherche Public-Gabriel Lippmann. § Centro Internacional de la Papa. # Unite ´ d’Ecologie des Grandes Cultures, Universite ´ catholique de Louvain. 366 J. Agric. Food Chem. 2007, 55, 366-378 10.1021/jf062740i CCC: $37.00 © 2007 American Chemical Society Published on Web 12/22/2006